Mindbound
by Pokah
Summary: Four people are selected to participate in a universe-experiment. Personalities subconsciously put away and memories wiped, they enter a simulation of an entirely new universe. Together they'll go on an adventure and have their lives rebuilt as they progress and complete the experiment. ( Rated T for current events, may change due to futur themes and concepts. Title is temporary. )
1. A New Beginning

"Well... the story we're about to tell is sorta'... intriguing. It feels so long ago, let's see. Erm..." a dark-haired man says. Four adults sit in a row in front of multiple people in coats in what seems to be a lab. A blond-haired man starts speaking,

"We woke up in what seemed to be nothing but darkness?", looking to the other three asking if he was correct, seeing the others nod.

"We never saw each other until after a series of events but, there seemed to be a voice, guiding us through some sort of school academy of some sort.", he paused for a moment, trying to recall the event.

"We were taught about stuff the world had, all from no sense of identity; from scratch. It was apparent we weren't taught everything as on our journey, we ran into so many things we had no clue about.", he paused again to reminisce.

"By the end of the 'tutorial', we were moved to a random place on a whole new world and given a backpack, the four of us had just seen each other for a couple seconds before we noticed many hostile creatures around us. They seemed blank, like a canvas, and our first instinct was to defend ourselves in any way possible." The dark-haired man started speaking.

"I stared widely, in surprise, to see a sight of another being like me." He laughed a little, "The sheer happiness I felt was quickly replaced by a sense of insecurity as I quickly retaliated from one of the creature's attempting to strike me."

- Going back to sometime in the past, but not too far back. -

"Whoa there!" the dark-haired person says, quickly and barely dodging an imp-like creature's claws as he watches the blond punch it away.

"I- uhh, thanks." he says, quickly interrupted by another attempt of aggrievance, he abjures the long haired person, the blonde protecting him from a creature right after.

"No time for mucking around now.", the blonde says, the other blond smirked. The battle went on until they agree it wasn't going to end good for them at this rate. They all absconded and set up a habitable area some distance away in a forest.

"So who're you people?" The blond asked the rest all. They all questioned themselves, not thinking once about an identity.

"The name's John Egbert." the dark-haired one says.

"Rose. Rose Lalonde." The blonde says.

"I'm Jade Harley!", the long-haired one says. "It's nice to meet you all!", Jade remarks cheerfully.

"And I'm Strider, Dave Strider.", the blonde says, smirking and pulling out a pair of sunglasses out of the backpack he has and wearing them. John saw his backpack, almost forgetting about their own backpacks, took it off and started rummaging through it.

John finds a hammer, multiple rations of baked goods, a bottle of oil and a pair of rectangular-lensed glasses. John wore the glasses, noticing everything looked much clear-er and looked around to see the other two looking through their backpacks as well, Rose pulled out: a pair of needles, some chalk, and books, and Jade: a rifle, a stable vial of uranium, a teddy-dog with "Bec" written on a tag attached to it, and round-lensed glasses; Jade putting them on as well. Dave seems to have a long sword hanging from his backpack, a piece of amber and a small device of some sort.

- Back to the present, some times ahead of Dave's point in time of the story. -

A much older looking John says, "We didn't have any questions or curiosity about each other, we've never experienced anything so much that it'd be unusual to see or hear."

"We were learning and experiencing life as we knew it!" said Jade, smiling.


	2. Civilization

- The day after, early morning; in the past. –

Jade looked over to see John sitting up, rubbing his eyes and reaching for his glasses.

"Sleep well?" Jade asked, looking at the other two soundly asleep.

"Yeah I suppose." John replied, realizing that he was hungry. "Mind if we go hunting or something?"

Jade stared at him in confusion, before realizing the only food they had were sugary snacks and plain, bland pieces of bread, and nodded, picking up her rifle. John nodded back, heading over to his backpack to get his hammer. Once both of them were ready, they set off to find game.

- A couple minutes later. –

Rose wakes up, bumping into Dave, waking him up as well. She sees that both of them are gone.

"Hey, uhh… Dave? Dave." Rose awkwardly asked.

Dave groaned and sat up, "Yeah?" he responded.

"We should probably do something." She suggested.

"And what almighty thing shall we do this morning Rose?" he responded sarcastically.

She stared at him, and the forest, switching her focus occasionally, not knowing what to do at all, having no knowledge of what to do in a situation like this.

"I guess we should wait for the other two?" Rose said. Dave didn't even notice they were gone, making a surprised expression.

- Somewhere in the forest. –

"Shh." Jade remarked, gesturing to get down. John complied and looked ahead to see a few deer. Jade took aim and promptly fired a shot at one of the bigger ones, a "bang" echoing through the forest. John smiled.

"Nice one Jade." Running down and gesturing Jade to help drag it back to the camp.

They returned to see Rose and Dave sharing knowledge of what they were taught and were happy that they found food. Jade instructed Dave to get his sword and taught him to skin and get rid of the non-edible parts, cooking the rest over a fire they created with the items they had.

"So, since apparently we were all taught different things, I suggest we all share our knowledge and compose a sort-of, library between ourselves." Rose suggested. They all stockpiled their knowledge: Jade knowing a lot about animals and science, as well as medical training. Rose knowing mythology and psychology, Dave knowing how to act in combat and the concept of keeping time, and John having knowledge in meteorology and tricks.

"We should probably move sometime soon, maybe we can find other people like us!" Jade suggested. Everyone agreed, spending the day teaching other basic things, planning to move tomorrow. It was a productive day.

The next day came, they rose early and packed their things, started heading off in a direction.

"Hey!" John called out. "I think I see something over there." He pointed in a direction, showing raised structures in a clearing. They all made their way over there, seeing it inhabited by humanoid beings, their appearance and town featuring black and white all over and white carapaced beings. Yet it felt like something was missing to the four of them.

"Do you speak?" Jade asked to multiple carapacians and to their surprise they were able to communicate. One of the larger carapacians, walked up to them with a request, he saw their weapons and requested if they could gather food for them as they were incapable of fighting successfully or collecting resources without being attacked by wildlife.

"Well, what do you say?" Rose asked the rest of them.

"I don't see why not." John says

"I've definitely got more important things to do." He says in a sarcastic tone.

Jade nods, getting her rifle ready. Rose turns back around, talking to the carapacian.

"It's settled then, we'll do this job." Rose announced. The four then split into two groups, one collecting wood and things, and one hunting. It wasn't the most fun thing to do but they townspeople needed them. About an hour later they all return with the supplies and presented it to the carapacian.

To their surprise, they were rewarded with some equipment: a watch, a sledge hammer, and multiple scarves; seeing as it felt bad that they were doing this for them and they didn't promise anything in return.

"Well, I say that does it for the day." John says, smiling to the others. He turned to the carapacian, "Say, is there any place we can stay?" John asked. The carapacian showed them to a place, informing you can stay for free tonight since you helped us, to the group's delight.

Time passed, they explored the town and went to the place they were shown near the end of the day.

"Wow. This is really nice!" Jade exclaimed looking around the room in awe. There were decorations in the lobby; the walls were colorful and little areas for multiple things. A carapacian welcomed them as they walked in and led them to their room.

"I like this place." John says as he settles down, relaxing on the bed.

"We can sleep on proper furniture instead of the ground now." Dave said.

"Indeed!" Jade agreed, eating a few cookies from John's backpack.

"Now that we're settled, what do we want to do tomorrow?" Rose asked, sitting down on one of the beds.

Dave and Jade shrugged. "I guess we'll find out tomorrow." John said happily as he fell back into the bed.

- Back in the present. –

"It was a huge shock the next day." Rose said, shaking her head.

**( A review would be very nice. And if I may ask, is it interesting to read, or is it too specific or too fast on the details. Let me know! )**


	3. A Harsh Reality

It was about a couple hours before noon the next day. John was awaken by a commotion outside as there was a lot more chatter and a odd humming sound from outside. John put on his glasses and saw that Rose was standing by window, staring outside in slight disgust.

"Rose?" John said.

"Yes, John?"

"What's going on outside?" He incquired.

"I believe... we're under attack." she replies, walking she frantically packs her things, and going to wake up the other two. John get up and went to the window, seeing nothing at first until he looked up. In the air was a purple flying ship, bearing a symbol of some sort. He saw what seemed to be black carapacians climbing down on ropes, some having weapons on hand.

"The Dersites are coming!" He heard. He looked around again to see some buildings on fire.

"We need to help!" John said, turning around to the other three, two barely awake.

"Are you kidding? There's only four of us and we're not exactly the best equipped against anything else with weapons." Rose reminded.

"Well we have to do something!" Exclaimed John.

"Why don't we just take what we can and leave?" Jade asked.

"Might as well, if they're going to d-" Dave was interupted when the a large sound was heard, the roof collapsed in almost hitting the four. Fire quickly spreading through the room as it lights the carpet on fire.

"Run!" Dave exclaimed, helping Jade across the debris and running after the group downstairs. He sees in the lobby to see the room filled with more fire, opening the window behind and tells everyone to go through, readying his sword.

"Crap." John says with a horrified expression. Looking around the scene, many white corpses scattered throughout the town, red stains surrounding the bodies. The scent was unbearable from bodies burning, Jade being disgusted by it.

"Stop right there!"

John looked over to see a black figure, surrounded by more figures wielding as assortment of clubbing or stabbing weapons, and torches.

The four exchange looks before running in the opposite direction, having their weapons on hand. They keep running, past all the corpses, past all the burning buildings, stopping to change directions when they ran into trouble, fighting when they had to.

They hear yelling behind them as they ran. The group run into a forest and hide out in a cave, making sure to lose their sight.

"That was not a good sight." Jade said, distressed over the carnage they just saw.

"And tiring." John says, exhausted from running all through town. They settled down, making a little fire to keep warm, already missing the comfort of the inn and not having enough time to forage for food, they pitied everyone who died in the attack.

All but Dave passed out soon after. He watching the entrance for any intruders or anything of interest.

Dave heard someone walking by, he moves up to the entrance to see a white carapacian, it's skin stained with blood, seemingly happy to meet someone friendly.

"Uhh, hey." Dave awkwardly said, he invited it in, sitting next to it and comforting it, trying not to wake anyone up.

"Sorry about your town." He whispered, giving it one of the scarves. He patted it on the head and watched the entrance, soon passing out himself.

- Back at the lab. -

"It wasn't one of the most favorable experiences." John said.

"Especially since it was our first time experiencing something horrible or terrifying." Jade added.

**( I received reviews from multiple people, and thank you for the support. Sorry if this one seems shorter, I have no significant excuse. )**


	4. A Triumphant Skirmish

"I nearly died that morning." Jade said, clenching her fist. She looked over at John sitting next to her in the lab.

- Back in the past, the cave, late morning. -

John was awoken by a slight shuffling, still having his hammer in hand; being told to hold onto their weapons as a safety precaution. He sat up, put his glasses on, to see the sight of a surviving villager about to stab Jade in the head with it's claws, it hesitating to do so. He almost gasped, getting up carefully, readying his hammer. He hesitated as well, yelling out when he smashed the side of the carapacian's head in, red fluid coming from the blow as it dripped from it's head, staining the scarf it wore.

He looked over to see Dave waking up, Jade and Rose in shock as the white body fell to the ground.

"It was... it was uhh- about to kill you, Jade." John's hands shook as he held the bloodied hammer, dropping it next to the corpse. When Dave realized what happened, he was in slight shock to see the motionless, white body on the ground.

"We've got to go." Dave said, his face looking pale, remembering that he welcomed it in, offered warmth and even let his guard down. He then realized that some of their backpacks are missing.

John said, recalling the events. "I never did anything like that, but, I just had this instinct... to protect Jade, I never wanted to kill it. It just happened.

"Hey, some of our stuff is missing." Dave said, Rose looked around for hers, looking distressed, she nodded and noticed John fretting about his as well.

"Where could it have gone?" Jade said.

"It probably has something to do with what just happened." Dave added.

"If it just recently thought of murdering Jade, then I don't think it could get that far." Rose incquired, looking out the cave.

"Well we should go look for our backpacks then." John said, helping Jade get her glasses.

They all packed whatever they had, and walked outside.

"Look." Rose said, pointing at footsteps on the matted grass. They all followed it, eventually going back to town to see it inhabited by the black carapacians, constructing a building of some sort, the purple machine that flew nearby. In the distance, they saw two carapacians holding their backpacks, surrounded by other black figures bringing cargo into the ship.

"Do we really want to do this?" Dave asked, holding his sword

"I want my stuff back, don't you Jade?" John replied.

"Yeah, but is it really worth it. I don't think it's safe." Rose said.

"I do, I want my dog back." Jade complained. Dave had a look of pity under his glasses, he and Rose dropped their backpacks.

"Yeah, alright." Dave gripping his sword, signaling the Rose to follow him in, he and she readying their weapons.

"If anything happens, I want you to cover me and John to try to keep this place safe." Dave told the other two. The blonds' snuck in, Jade watching them as they eliminate multiple carapacians without hesitation, being inconspicuous about it, hiding bodies, eventually making their way in.

Inside the ship were many facilities, Dave almost drops his sword, tripping it on the doorway as they ran in, scolding himself. They went in a corridor, eventually making it to the storage unnoticed. They walked in to see many boxes with labels on them, looking around in awe with all the stuff they could take.

"Alright." Dave whispered. "There's no harm in taking some extra loot right?" He said, smirking. Rose agreed, looking around for the backpack. Rose noticed something glowing from the corner of her eye. It was a box, and conveniently, next to two backpacks.

"Found the backpacks." Rose called to Dave.

"That's cool." Dave replied. Rose looked back, opened the box to see needles in them, pulsating with energy. She picked them up, admiring them, being ornate slightly, and blue. She replaced her needles with the new pair, brandishing them a little. Suddenly a small blast of energy came out and hit an alarm, signaling it, alarming Rose with the new-found power. Dave came running from somewhere holding a cutlass in a scabbard.

"What happened?" Dave asked, distressed as the alarm rung.

"I may've triggered an alarm." Rose replied, slightly embarrassed, retrieved the two backpacks and handing one to Dave. "We're going." Rose ran to the door, putting on one of the backpacks. Dave followed, brandishing the sword.

Back outside, Jade readies her rifle, looking at the entrance of the ship through the scope on top. Back inside the ship, the two run into multiple carapacians holding batons. Dave charges into two, stabbing one and hitting the other, decapitating it. Rose replicated what happened in the storage, blasted the rest. Seeing Dave be impressed they went on and exited the ship, seeing multiple black figures heading to the ship with swords and batons. They backed up a little before a sound is heard from a distance and one falls. Rose and Dave smile, heading into battle again as carapacians fell one by one from the back, adrenaline fueling them with a weird kind of excitement.

In the midst of battle, Dave's left arm is hit, looking back at the carapacians, sweeped them, swinging his blade across multiple figures. He went back a little to Rose's safety as she cleared them out from a safe distance. After the coast seemed clear, the two started running back, dodging groups of carapacians as they chased after them again, Dave holding onto his arm. They eventually reach back and hand the other two their backpacks, Dave clutching his arm.

"Shit." Dave spat out. He rolled up his blood-stained sleeve, blood dripping from his arm and falling to the grass. Jade, rummaging through her backpack for an extra shirt or cloth, tended to Dave's wound and wrapped it around. John looking worried from Dave's wound, looked at Rose and the needles she held in her hands.

"You find some loot as well?" John asked.

Rose smiled and replied, "Yeah." Holding both needles in one hand and looking at them, as they glowed and dimmed. Dave put the newly acquired sword on the ground and sat down. He smirked, moved his arm and whimpered as he tried to rest, never experiencing this much pain before.

They agreed to get going after about an hour, looking for necessities. They wandered around until they found a clearing in a forest. John set up a fire and Jade hunted, cooking the raw meat. They ate and went with their business, Dave being the first to sleep, Rose soon after. John added wood to the fire and fell asleep. Jade sat up, holding the stuffed-pet, looked to the stars and hugged it, eventually fell asleep as well. It was one of the best rests they've had in a day.

**(It was fun writing this chapter, receiving reviews and going off of them. Thanks for the support again!)**


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